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New York Historical Society 

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 



1902 



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Gift 
SooI»ty 



Library, 170 Second Avenue. 

New York, February 10, 1903. 
In transmitting" to you a copy of the Annual Report of 
the Executive Committee for the year 1902, I beg leave to 
call your attention to the paragraph on page 8 in regard to 
membership. 

It is very desirable to maintain in full and efficient 
strength the roll of Members, which is constantly diminished 
by the decease of many of our oldest and best citizens, here- 
tofore identified with the history, progress, and prosperity of 
the Society. 

By order of the Committee, 

Sydney H. Carney, Jr., 

Recording Secretary. 



Officers of the Society, 1903. 



-*-♦-►- 



PRESIDENT, 

SAMUEL VERPLANCK HOFFMAN. 

FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT, 

FREDERIC WENDELL JACKSON. 

SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT, 

FRANCIS ROBERT SCHELL. 

FOREIGN CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, 

ARCHER MILTON HUNTINGTON. 

DOMESTIC CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, 

GEORGE RICHARD SCHIEFFELIN. 

RECORDING SECRETARY, 

SYDNEY HOWARD CARNEY, Jr., M.D 

TREASURER, 

CHARLES AUGUSTUS SHERMAN. 

LIBRARIAN, 

ROBERT HENDRE KELBY. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



FIRST CLASS FOR ONE YEAR, ENDING 1 904. 

GEORGE W. VANDERBILT, CHARLES ISHAM, 

FRANK TILFURD. 

SECOND CLASS— FOR TWO YEARS, ENDING I905. 

JOHN A. WEEKES, J. I'lERPONT MORGAN, 

GEORGE R. SCHIEFEELIN. 

THIRD CLASS FOR THREE YEARS, ENDING I906. 

F. ROBERT SCHELL, DANIEL PARISH, Jr., 

FREDERIC WENDELL JACKSON. 

FOURTH CLASS — FOR FOUR YEARS, ENDING I907. 

ISAAC J. GREENWOOD, CLARENCE STORM, 

JAMES WILLIAM BEEKMAN. 

DANIEL PARISH, Jr., CJiainnaii. 

ROBERT H. KELBY, Secretary. 

[The President, Recording Secretary, Treasurer, and Librarian 
are members of the ExecutiYe Committee.! 




Ncu3 Ijork historical 0acictt), 



ANNUAL REPORT. 



New York, January 6, 1903. 
In accordance with the By-Laws, the Executive Committee 

of the New York Historical Society submits herewith its 

Annual Report for the year 1902. 

During the past year the Society held nine stated meetings, 
at which the following papers were read : 

January 7. Annual Meeting. Reports of the Executive 
Committee, Treasurer, and Librarian, and election of Officers. 

February 4. " James Wolfe, the Hero of Quebec," by 
Miss Mary V. Worstell. 

March 4. " History and Humor in Colonial Advertise- 
ments," by Mr. Frank Warren Crane. 

April I. " Religious Liberty in Colonial New York." bv 
Mr. Rocellus S. Guernsey. 

May 6. " Naval Operations around the Island of Man- 
hattan, 1776," by Mr. Reginald Pelham Bolton. 

June 3. " Our French Allies in Westchester Count \-, New 
York," by Mr. John C. L. Hamilton. 

October 7. Resolulidus on the death of Dean llotinian, 
late President of the Society. 

November 5. " The Ceremonies Attending Occupation of 



(8) 

Fort George, this City, by the American Forces on Evacuation 
by the British Army, November 25, 1783," by the Hon. Asa 
Bird Gardiner, LL.D. 

December 2. " An Address Commemorative of the Very 
Rev. Eugene Augustus Hoffman, D.D., LL.D., D.C.L.," by 
the Rev. WilHam R. Huntington, D.D. 

Eighty persons were elected to membership in the Society 
during the year To the Hst of deceased associates have been 
added, among others esteemed by the Society and community, 
the names of the Very Rev. Eugene Augustus Hoft'man, D.D., 
President of the Society ; Nicholas Fish, Second Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Society ; John J. Tucker, Chairman of the Execu- 
tive Committee; Richard C. Fellows, John T. Metcalf, M.D., 
Edward C. Fiedler, John H. Pell, Charles L. Tiffany, Henry 
G. Marquand, Frederick D. Tappen, Jacob W. Feeter, Cyrus 
Lawton, Paul Leicester Ford, Randolph W. Townsend, James 
Benkard, William Miles, Isaac Myer, Luther R. Marsh, Henry 
W. Bibby, Rev. Thomas Gallaudet, D.D., William Allen Butler, 
Samuel D. Babcock, William Harman Brown, Amasa A. Red- 
field, Francis A. Palmer, Ferdinand P. Earle, and William 
Colford Schermerhorn. 

On February 19, 1902, Mr. John J. Tucker died. He was 
a member of the Society since 1874; member of the Execu- 
tive Committee, 1897, and its Chairman since 1900, from whose 
meetings he never was absent. He was also a member of the 
Building Committee. 

The Very Rev. Eugene Augustus Hoffman, D.D., LL.D., 
D.C.L., our honored and distinguished President, died June 
17, 1902. Resolutions of appreciation and sympathy were 
adopted at the October meeting, and at the December meeting 
the Rev. William R. Huntington, D.D., read a paper com- 
memorative of the late President, which is now in press. 

The office 'of Second Vice-President became vacant Sep- 
tember 16, 1902, on the death of the Hon. Nicholas Fish, a 
member of the Society since 1867, member of the Executive 
Committee, 1900; Domestic Corresponding Secretary, 1900; 
Foreign Corresponding Secretary, 1901 ; Second Vice-Presi- 
dent, 1902. 

The Committee earnestly request that each member nomi- 
nate at least one new member during the coming year. At 
the present time there are 1,057 niembers, of whom 170 are 
honorary, 515 life, and 372 pay annual dues. In the transac- 



(9) 

tion of the business the Coiiiniittee has held one special and 
ten stated meetings. 

The Report of the Treasurer exhibits a continuance of the 
careful management of the Society's funds. The Society has 
no debts, no mortgage upon the land, buildings, or collections, 
and no outstanding bills. The income during the year from all 
sources for general purposes was $12,789.25, and the expendi- 
tures were $9,337.08. The receipts comprise fees of initiations, 
life membership, annual dues of members, and interest from 
the investment of : 

1. " Tlie Eugene Augustus Hoffuuvi Memorial Fund,'' 
$47,500. The legacy of Dean Hoffman, 1902, late President 
of the Society. 

Also from the following permanent funds, bequests to the 
Society without restrictions and kept intact as memorials to 
their founders : 

2. The Isaiah Thomas Fund. The legacy of Isaiah 
Thomas, of Worcester, Mass., in 1832, $300. 

3. The Elizabeth Deuiilt Fund. The legacy of Miss 
Elizabeth Demilt, of New York, in 1849, $5>ooo. 

4. The Seth Grosvenor Fund. The legacy of Seth Gros- 
venor, of New York, in 1858, $10,000. 

5. TJie David E. WJieclcr Fund. The legacy of David 
E. Wheeler, of New York, in 1870, $1,000. 

6. The Thonms Barron Fund. The legacy of Thomas 
Barron, of New York, in 1875, $10,000. 

7. The Richard E. Mount Fund. The legacy of Richard 
E. Mount, of New York, in 1880, $1,000. 

8. TJie Edzcard Bill Fund. The Legacy of Edward Bill, 
of New York, in 1884, $5,000. 

9. The Augustus Schell Fund. The legacy of Augustus 
Schell, of New York, in 1884, $5,000. 

10. The Mary Rogers Fund. The legacy of Mrs. Charles 
H. Rogers, of New York, in 1891, $1,000. 

11. The James Francis Evans Fund. The legacy of Cap- 
tain James Francis Evans, of New York, in 1893, $1,000. 

12. The Henry Keteltas Fund. The legacy of Henry 
Keteltas, of New York, in 1898, $5,000. 

13. The Charles P. Daly Fund. The legacy of Charles 
P. Daly, of New York, in 1900, $5,000; and 

14. The Maria Branson Mount Fund. The legacy of 
Miss Maria Branson Mount, of New York, in 1901, $1,000. 



( I o ) 

]\laking an aggregate of $97,800. the interest of which is 
apphcable to the general purposes of the Society. The Society 
possesses, in addition, the following special funds: 

15. Tlic loll II Dii'inc Jones Fund. Founded by John 
Divine Jones, hi New York, in 1879, for the publication and 
sale by the Society of works relating to the early history of 
New York and other American Provinces. This fund now 
amounts to $3,778.31. 

16. TJic Fund of the Sons of Rhode Island, the gift of 
the Association in New York known by that name during the 
Civil War, presented in 1866. and devoted to the purchase of 
w'orks for the Library relating to the history of Rhode Island, 
$600. 

17. Fhe Stephen Whitney PJuvnix Fnnd. The bequest 
of Stephen Whitney Phoenix, of New York, in 1882, for the 
maintenance ami increase of the Phoenix Collection of Heraldrv 
and Genealogy, $15,000. 

18. The Publication Fund. Established by the Society in 
1858, for the publication of its Proceedings and Collections. 
Of the shares of the capital stock of this Fund, limited in 
number to 1,000, 823 have been sold up to the present time, 
as follows : 750 shares were sold prior to June 6, 1866, at 
twenty-five dollars per share ; subsequently the price of shares 
was advanced to fifty dollars, when thirty shares were sold at 
the latter figure ; the price of shares was again advanced Jan- 
uary I, 1883, to one himdretl dollars jier share, since then 
forty-three shares have been sold, realizing $24,550, the in- 
terest of which is used for the publication of each successive 
volume. Originally this fund drew seven per cent. ; with the 
present rate of interest it draws 4^ per cent. The cost of 
publishing the volumes is expensive, hence the delay in issuing 
the publications. 

The Committee begs leave to call attention to the fact that 
there remains in the Treasury 177 shares of the capital stock 
of the Fund. It is desired to increase the capital of the Fund 
by their sale, to insure the publication of the volumes more 
promptly. They are offered (every share being entitled to a 
complete set of twenty-seven volumes of Collections already 
issued) at the low price of $100 each. These shares are 
transferable, and entitle the holder to one copy of each suc- 
cessive annual volume of the series. No investment could be 
more desirable^ as the purchaser acquires a most important 



(II) 

series of volumes relating to the history of America not to be 
obtainetl in any other way, as the publications are the divi- 
dends earned by the stock, and are deliverable only to stock- 
holders. \'olumes XXV.-XXVIL, the first three volumes of 
a series, consisting- of " Abstracts of Wills on file in the Sur- 
rogate's Ofiice, City of New York," are published. \'olume 
XX\ 111. is in jiress. 

The twenty-seven volumes issued contain the following 
valuable material : 

A^ol. I. (1868) The Continuation of Chalmers's Political An- 
nals of the American Colonies, 1685-1696. 
The Colden Letters on Smith's Historv of 
New York. 1759-1760. Documents relat- 
ing to the Administration of Jacob Leisler, 
1689-1769. 

\o\. IT. (1869) The Clarendon Papers, relating to New York 
and X^ew England, 1662-1667. The De- 
struction of Schenectady, 1690. Montague's 
Arguments on Acts of New York Assembly, 
1701. Colden's Letter on Smith's Historv 
of X^ew York, 1759. Plowden's New Al- 
bion, 1632-1650. Gardiner's Historv of 
East Hampton, X>w York, 1798. Collec- 
tion of Evidence and A'indication of the 
Rights of New York to the New Hampshire 
Grants. 

\'ol. HL (1870) Territorial Rights of New York against the 

Government of X^ew Hampshire, a brief, 
b\- James Duane. Old New York and 
Trinity Church, 1730-1790. Sermon by 
the Rev. Francis INIakemie, 1707. 

\'ol. T\'. (i87Crj 

\'ol. A\ (1872) I The Papers of Major-General Charles 

Vol. VL (1873) I Lee, 1754-1811. 

\'ol. VH. (1874V 

\'oI. \TH. (1875) Letters of General I'attison. Comnruulant 

of X\nv York City. 1 779-1 780. Letters 
to General Lewis Morris, 1775-1782. 




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(13) 



Vol. XIX. (1886) 
Vol. XX. (1887) 



The Deane Papers, Correspondence, 
Official and Private, of Silas Deane, 
1 774- 1 789. 



Vol. XXI. (1888) 
Vol. XXII. (1889) 
Vol. XXIII. (1890) 

Vol. XXIV. (1891) Muster Rolls of New York Provincial 

Troops, 1755-1764. 

Vol. XXV. (1892) Abstracts of Wills on file in the Surro- 
gate's Office, City of New York, 1665- 
1707. 

Vol. XXM. (1893) Same, 1708-1729, with Appendix. 

Vol. XX\TI. (1894) Same, 1730-1744. 

Vol. XXVIII. (1895) Same, 1744-, in Press. 

And 19. The Building Fund. For years it was apparent 
to the officers that some steps should be taken to procure 
funds for the erection of a new building. On December i, 
1885, ]\Ir. John S. Kennedy submitted a letter from a friend 
of the Society stating there was deposited with the Central 
Trust Company the sum of $100,000 for the purchase of a 
site and the erection of a building, suitable for the purposes 
of the institution, subject to the condition that the further 
sum of $300,000 shall be secured therefor within two years 
from November 30, 1885. 

It being found impossible to raise the amount within the 
time specified by the donor, Mrs. Robert L. Stuart, the 
Society, on November 15, 1887, requested an extension of 
twelve months, which was granted. The amount of the sum 
required by its conditions to be subscribed for the proposed 
object was reduced from $300,000 to $150,000. 

In January, 1887, the Hon. John Alsop King was elected 
President of the Society, and became Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Subscriptions; active measures were begun, and 
through the great interest and exertions of President King 
the necessary sum was secured. The following are the names 
of the subscribers : 

Mrs. Robert L. Stuart $100,000 00 

John S. Kennedy 15,000 00 

George W. Vanderbilt 15,000 00 

J. Pierpont Morgan 10,000 00 

Cornelius Vanderbilt • 10,000 00 

Miss Catherine Wolfe Bruce 10,000 00 

Miss Matilda Wolfe Bruce 10,000 00 



(H) 



John Alsop King 8,500 00 

Alfred Corning Clark 7,200 00 

John Divine Jones 5.000 00 

Mrs. Augustus Schell 5.000 00 

Miss Charlotte A. Mount 2.500 00 

Miss Susan Mount 2,500 00 

William K. Vanderbilt 2,000 00 

Robert Schell 2.000 00 

Benjamin H. Field 1.500 00 

Henry Herrman 1 .000 00 

Mrs. Henry Herrman 1,000 00 

David Dows 1,000 00 

William Waldorf Astor i.ooo 00 

CoUis P. Huntington 1,000 00 

Henrj' G. Marquand i .000 00 

Goldsborough Banyer i.ooo 00 

Ambrose K. Ely i.ooo 00 

Phillips Phoenix . i.ooo 00 

Lloyd Phoenix 1 ,000 00 

W. Bayard Cutting 1,000 00 

R. Fulton Cutting i.ooo 00 

Miss Julia Rhinelander 1,000 00 

Miss Serena Rhinelander 1,000 00 

Robert J. Livingston i.ooo 00 

Darius O. Mills 1,000 00 

William H. Jackson i.ooo 00 

Charles Lanier 1,000 00 

Tames M. Constable i ,000 00 

Robert Winthrop i .000 00 

Percy R. Pyne i ,000 00 

Frederick Billings i ,000 00 

Cornelius N. Bliss i ,000 00 

Gerard Beekman i ,000 00 

Daniel Parish, Jr 1,000 00 

John A. Weekes i ,000 00 

Franklin H. Delano 1,000 00 

Adrian Iselin i ,000 00 

Frederick Sturges i.ooo 00 

Charles L. Tiffany i.ooo 00 

William C. Schermerhorn i.ooo 00 

William Austin i ,000 00 

W^illiam L. Skidmore 1,000 00 

Samuel D. Babcock i ,000 00 

William D. Sloane i.ooo 00 

Mrs. Charles H. Rogers i.ooo 00 

William B. Isham i ,000 00 

Abram Dubois, M.D i.ooo do 

David Stewart i .000 00 

Miss Rachel L. Kennedy i.ooo 00 

Harris C. Fahnestock i .000 00 

Levi P. Morton i .000 00 

George Bliss i.ooo 00 

Daniel B. Fayerweather 1,000 00 

Woodbury G. Langdon i ,000 00 

Orlando B. Potter i.ooo 00 

Martin E. Greene i.ooo 00 

Samuel Riker goo 00 

Albert R. Gallatin 500 00 

Miss Mary L. Kennedy 500 00 

William Astor 500 00 

Thomas N. Lawrence. 500 00 

Mrs. Sarah J. Zabriskie 500 00 

Morris K. Jesup 500 00 



(15) 



^ Frederick F. Thompson 500 oo 

George G. Williams " soo 00 

Elliott F. Shepard 500 00 

J. Hampden Robb " ' _ c^oo 00 

Isaac J. Greenwood ^00 00 

Mary Greenwood ]][ 'c^qo qq 

Andrew C. Zabriskie l^oo 00 

Edward F. de Lancey [_] 500 00 

'Sirs. William H. Osborn \[[ -00 00 

Richard T. Auchmuty c^oo 00 

William M. Evarts 500 00 

Henry Dexter . . . ; ." ." ; ^qq qq 

A. Van Home Stuyvesant 250 00 

Charles Howland Russell [[ 250 00 

Maturin L. Delafield 250 00 

Mrs. Jonathan Stnrges 250 00 

George Peabody Wetmore 250 00 

Mrs. Frank W. Jackson ^-o 00 

Amos R Eno [[][[[ 25000 

Josiah M. Fiske 250 00 

Frederic Bronson 2:;o 00 

John L. Riker 200 00 

Herman C. van Post 200 00 

William Remsen 200 00 

Jacob Wendell 200 00 

George F. Baker ............] 200 00 

James C. Carter 200 00 

Hugh N. Camp ......].... 200 00 

Charles W. Sloane 200 00 

Elbridge T. Gerry .....'..'. 100 00 

Stuyvesant Fish 100 00 

-J°!l" H. Riker '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'..'. 100 00 

William T. Buckley 100 00 

Jenkins Van Schaick 100 00 

Rev. Samuel M. Jackson 100 00 

Samuel Sloan joo 00 

Charles G. Langdon 100 00 

James W. Gerard 100 00 

Frederick B. Jennings 100 00 

Mrs. James A. Glover 100 00 

John Bigelow [[ 100 00 

Robert Halsteat! 100 00 

William Lummis 100 00 

Edward N. Dickerson 100 00 

Henry T. Drowne 100 00 

Robert Harris 100 00 

Hicks Arnold 100 00 

Orlando M. Harper 100 00 

Charles A. Peabody 100 00 

James D. Lynch 100 00 

John T. Agnew 100 00 

John A. Hadden 100 00 

Henry Clews 100 00 

Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix 100 00 

James A. Garland 100 00 

James Talcott 100 00 

Charles F. Southmayd 100 00 

Rev. Richard L. Burtsell 100 00 

Hiram Hitchcock 100 00 

Robert Ray Hamilton 100 00 

Abram S. Hewitt 100 00 

Albert L. Loomis, M.D 100 00 

Henry C. Sturges 100 00 



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(i6) 

W. Seward Webb, M.D., 

Walter Langdon 

Franklin Burdge 

Woolsey R. Hopkins 

John McKesson, Jr 

Henry Dudley 

Jonathan H. Crane 

Elihu Chauncey 

Henry E. Lawrence 

Oliver G. Barton 

John T. Lockman 

Hamilton B. Tompkins 

John Clinton Gray 

William Augustus White 

Thomas C. Wood 

Robert Goelet 

Ogden Goelet 

Henry E. Gregory 

Charles E. Strong 

Edgar M. Crawford 

John S. Craig 

Lazarus Rosenfeld 

Addison Brown 

Richard J. Leggat 

George Wilson 

On May 2i, 1889, a special Committee was appointed to 
examine and report on a suitable site for a new building. In 
answer to an inquiry concerning the possible purchase of the 
Madison Avenue front of the Lenox Library, the Trustees of 
that institution advised the Committee that the property was 
not for sale. It being found that no suitable site on the east 
side could be secured at a cost within the means of the So- 
ciety, the Committee selected the property situated on Eighth 
Avenue (Central Park West), consisting of ten city lots, with 
a frontage of 204 feet on the avenue and a depth of 125 feet 
on Seventy-sixth and Seventy-seventh streets, respectively. 
The purchase was effected June i, 1891. 

The site secured for the future home of the Society is an 
admirable one, facing Central Park on the east and Manhattan 
Square on the north ; the future position of the proposed build- 
ing will guarantee safety from fire and abundance of air and 
light. The transverse roads through Central Park and the 
new method of rapid transit will insure its convenience of 
access, while its proximity to the American Museum of Nat- 
ural History will make it a centre of attraction to members, 
students, and visitors. 

In consequence of the depression of business throughout 
the country the special committee whose appointment was 
authorized by the Society to solicit subscriptions for the 



(17) 

erection of the new building were unable to report any 
progress until 1899, when subscriptions amounting to 
$17,000 were received. 

After the death of the Hon. John Alsop King, President 
of the Society, Dean Hoffman succeeded to the Presidency, 
January 2, 1901, and took active measures to procure addi- 
tional subscriptions toward the' erection of the new building. 

On June 4, 1901, a " Building Committee," of which the 
President was Chairman, was appointed to receive and report 
upon plans for the proposed new building. It was decided to 
erect the central portion, 135 x 115 feet, on the lines of Amer- 
ican Colonial architecture, from plans of Messrs. York and 
Sawyer. The estimated cost was about $400,000. A circu- 
lar was forwarded to the members of the Society stating these 
facts and requesting subscriptions. The following subscrip- 
tions have been received : 



Legacy of the late Robert Schell $23,812 50 

Arthur Milton Huntington 20,000 00 

Miss Matilda Wolfe Bruce isiooo 00 

The Very Reverend Eugene Augustus Hofifman, D.D 10,000 00 

F. Robert Schell 10,000 00 

"^ A Friend of the Society " (through Gouverneur Tillotson) 10,000 00 

" A Friend of the Society " (through Samuel Thorne) 10,000 00 

John Alsop King 5^000 00 

Miss Charlotte A. Mount 5,000 00 

Miss Susan Mount S,ooo 00 

Charles A. Sherman (in memory of Charles P. Huntington) s'ooo 00 

Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson 5,000 00 

William C. Schermerhorn S^ooo 00 

Mrs. Eugene Augustus Hofifman 2,000 00 

Miss Phebe Anne Thorne 1,000 00 

Miss Mary Rhinelander King 1,000 00 

Miss Serena Rhinelander 1,000 00 

Edward S. Clark 1,000 00 

Daniel Parish, Jr 1,000 00 

Mrs. Richard T. Auchmuty 1,000 00 

Herman C. von Post 1,000 00 

Theodore F. Jackson 1,000 00 

Isaac J. Greenwood 1,000 00 

Mrs. James M. Lawton i|ooo 00 

Miss Caroline Phelps Stokes I'ooo 00 

Nicholas Fish 1,000 00 

Charles A. Hoyt ijooo 00 

Mrs. Charles Frederick Hofifman 1,000 00 

Frederic Wendell Jackson i^ooo 00 

Henry Phipps I'ooo 00 

George G. Williams 1,000 00 

William K. Vanderbilt 1,000 00 

James Speyer i",ooo 00 

Mrs. Joseph M. White 1,000 00 

Samuel Sloan 1,000 00 

Frank Tilford i'ooo 00 



(.8) 



Mrs. Henry Herrman i,ooo oo 

Henry H. Cook i,ooo oo 

George F. Baker i,ooo oo 

Harris C. Falinestock i,ooo oo 

Mrs. Morris K. Jesup i,ooo oo 

Mrs. John E. Parsons i,ooo oo 

Murray Guggenheim 500 00 

John C. Osgood 500 00 

John E. Parsons 500 00 

Frederick Billings 500 00 

Mrs. J. Henry Watson 500 00 

Mrs. Thomas W. Nickerson, Jr 500 00 

Mrs. Charles L. Hackstaff 500 00 

Samuel Verplanck Hoffman 500 00 

Mrs. Daniel M. Stimson 300 00 

Sidney Webster 250 00 

Mrs. J. Herman Aldrich 250 00 

Stuyvesant Fish 250 00 

John C. Havemeyer ^ 200 00 

William Alexander Smith 100 00 

Marinus W. Dominick 100 00 

James J. Higginson 100 00 

Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt 100 00 

Woodbury G. Langdon 100 00 

Anson Phelps Stokes 100 00 

Nathaniel W. Hunt 100 00 

A. Lanfear Norrie 50 00 

Addison Brown 50 00 

Frederic J. de Peyster 50 00 

George Abeel 25 00 

Mrs. Eugenia Brodhead 25 00 

Rev. Dr. Wm. R. Huntington 25 00 

Abram S. Post 25 00 

Evert Jansen Wendell 25 00 

Francis E. Woodruff 25 00 

Mrs. Frederick Hasbrouck 25 00 

Jacob Rothschild 20 00 

J. Marcus Boorman 20 00 

Samuel Sherwood 15 00 

Miss Mary F. Hall 10 00 

John Neilson Beekman, M.D 10 00 

The Rev. Thomas Gallaudet 10 00 

Wm. Gray Schauffler, M.D 5 00 

Cash I 00 

The informal breaking of ground for the new building- 
took place September 10, 1902. Mr. Samuel Verplanck Hofif- 
man, son of our late President, raised the first spade of earth 
in the presence of the Recording Secretary, the Librarian, and 
Mr. Philip Sawyer, of the firm of York & Sawyer, Architects. 

On September 24, 1902, a contract was made for the ex- 
cavations and foundations for the new building; the work has 
steadily progressed and is now near its completion. It is 
hoped that contributions will be made by the members and 
friends of the Society sufficient in amount to insure the com- 
pletion of the building by November, 1904, the Centennial of 
the founding of the institution. 



(i9) 

Tlie balances to the credit of tlie Society are as follows: 

1. In the Bank of the Metropolis: Annual dues, interest, 

etc., for current expenses $3,452 17 

2. In the Bank of the Metropolis: Interest of the Phoenix 

Fund 295 57 

3. In the New York Life Insurance & Trust Co.: 

Publication Fund 1 3,021 43 

The John Divine Jones Fund 2,202 16 

4. In the Central Trust Company: Building Fund 120,766 43 

5. In the New York Security & Trust Company: 

" The Eugene Augustus Hoffman Memorial Fund " 47,500 00 
Phoenix Fund 15,000 00 

The report of the Librarian shows an increase dnring the 
past year of 3,241 volumes of books, 4,390 pamphlets, 83 
bound volumes and 1,344 numbers of old newspapers, 79 vol- 
umes and 385 separate manuscripts, 27 bound volumes of maps 
and 419 separate maps, 215 broadsides, 85 lithographs, and 
83 engravings. The Phoenix Collection of Heraldry and 
Genealogy has been increased by purchase and donation 126 
volumes, 160 pamphlets, and 27 charts. 

To the archives of the Society have been added the 
" Rufus King- Papers," consisting of the letters and corre- 
spondence of the Hon. Rufus King, placed in the custody of 
the Society by Mrs. Charles R. King, at the request of the 
late Charles R. King, M.D., the Hon. John Alsop King, late 
President of the Society, and Mr. Edward King ; also, sundry 
papers of Colonel Timothy Pickering relating to this city, pre- 
sented by his great-grandson, Mr. John Pickering, and the 
" Leggett Papers," 1657-1746, relating to the early history 
of the northern section of the present City of New York, pre- 
sented by Mr. Francis W. Leggett. 

The following portraits in oil have been added to the 
Gallery of Art: The Very Rev. Eugene Augustus HofTman, 
I)ainted for the Society by H. T. See; William Walton and 
Cornelia Beekman, his wife, bequest of the late Theodora M. 
Storm; David Grim, painted, 1812, by Samuel L. Waldo, be- 
quest of his great-granddaughter, the late Sophie E. Minton ; 
Zophar Mills, painted by Frank B. Carpenter, presented by 
his daughter, Adelaide Mills. 

The Gallery now contains 878 paintings, of which 195 
form the nucleus of an American portrait gallery, and 64 
pieces of sculpture. The collection includes that of the New 
York Gallery of Fine Arts, which came into its possession in 
1858 through the exertions of the late Jonathan Sturges ; the 



(20) 

pictures of the American Art Union, the celebrated Bryan 
Gallery of Old Masters, presented by the late Thomas J. 
Bryan in 1867; the Durr Collection, presented by the execu- 
tors of the late Louis Durr, in 1882. The Gallery is also 
enriched by the original water-colors prepared by Audubon 
for his work on Natural History. 

The collection in the Department of Antiquities embraces 
the Abbott Collection of Egyptian Antiquities, purchased for 
the Society in 1859, and the Nineveh Sculptures, presented by 
the late James Lenox in 1857. 

Li view of the near approach of the Centennial of the So- 
ciety, the Committee repeats a brief retrospect of its history. 

On November 20, 1804, Egbert Benson, DeWitt Clinton, 
Rev. Drs. William Linn, Samuel Miller, John N. Abeel, John 
M. Mason, Dr. David Hoosack, Anthony Bleecker, Samuel 
Bayard, Peter G. Stuyvesant, and John Pintard, eleven well- 
known and influential citizens, met by appointment in the Pict- 
ure room of the City Hall, and agreed to organize a Society, 
the principal design of which should be to collect and preserve 
materials relating to the natural, civil, or ecclesiastical history 
of the United States in general, and of the State of New York 
in particular. It was further agreed that this organization 
should be called The New York Historical Society. 

Active measures were at once taken to secure books, manu- 
scripts, statistics, newspapers, pictures, antiquities, medals, 
coins, and specimens in natural history, thus commencing in 
a comprehensive manner the formation of a Library and 
Museum for the preservation of materials relating to American 
history and science. Attention was called through the press 
to the importance of cherishing public records and private 
papers, and their value to the student in elucidating the his- 
tory of the State and country was impressed upon the public 
mind. Special committees were formed in the various depart- 
ments to further the progress of this important work. All 
were quite successful in their efiforts, and the material thus 
gathered formed the nucleus of the magnificent collection of 
which to-day the Society may be justly proud. 

This is an age of specialization, and as the popular inter- 
est in studies of this character has increased, many of these 
Special Committees developed into separate Societies who 
charged themselves with promoting more fully their respec- 
tive objects; and several of these outgrowths of this Society 



(21) 



as the parent stock are in a flourishing condition at the pres- 
ent time. 

After occup}ing rooms in different locations — in the Old 
City Hall from 1804 to 1809, the Government House from 
1809 to 1816, the New York Institution from 1816 to 1832, 
Remsen's Building in Broadway from 1832 to 1837, the Stuy- 
vesant Institute from 1837 to 1841, the New York University 
from 1841 to 1857 — and after overcoming many serious and 
almost fatal obstacles to its progress, the Society celebrated 
its Fifty-third Anniversary by taking possession of its present 
edifice, then supposed sufficiently capacious for the future 
wants of the institution, but which is now overcrowded with 
its collections in history, art, ancf antiquity. 

The Society is eminently a public institution. Its design 
is national and patriotic ; its membership is within the access 
of every citizen ; the use of its collections is denied to none. 
It is neither sectarian in its objects, nor exclusive in their 
direction. It seeks now a building which may permanently 
cover its collections, and that object being obtained, it can 
more readily extend its influence. 

By order of the Committee, 

[Signed] Charles A. Sherman, 

Chairman pro tern. 



ABSTRACT OF TREASURER'S REPORT, 1902. 

deneral Account: 

Receipts $12,789 25 

Payments 9,337 08 

Balance in Bank of the Metropolis $3,452 17 

Phoenix Fund (Interest): 

Receipts $916 10 

Payments 620 53 

Balance in Bank of the Metropolis $295 57 

Publication Fund: 

Receipts and Principal $i5,493 59 

Payments 2,472 16 

Balance in New York Life Insurance & Trust Co. $13,021 43 

Investment of Funds. 
Grosvenor Fund: 

Bond and Mortgage, at 5 per cent $6,000 00 

at 4 per cent 1,000 00 

" " at ^y2 per cent 3,000 00 



$10,000 00 

Bond and Mortgage, at 4>^ per cent 

at 4^ per cent 



Barron Fund: 

Demilt Fund 

Bill Fund 

Schell Fund 

Wheeler Fund " 

Thomas Fund " 

Sons of R. I. 

Daly Fund 

Maria Branson Mount Fund 

Richard E. Mount Fund 

Rogers Fund " 

Keteltas Fund " 

Evans Fund: Bond of Forty-second Street, Manhattanville 
& St. Nicholas Avenue R.R. Co., at 6 per cent 

Jones Fund: 

Bond and Mortgage, at S per cent $i.750 00 

In New York Life Insurance & Trust Co. .. . 2,202 16 



at 4^ per cent, 
at 4!/2 per cent, 
at 5 per cent. . . 
at 5 per cent. . . 
at 5 per cent. . . 
at 41/2 per cent, 
at 4>4 per cent. 
at 4V2 per cent, 
at 5 per cent. . . 
at 4 per cent. 



Publication Fund: 

Bond and Mortgage, at 5 per cent $11,350 00 

" " at 4 per cent 1,000 00 

" " at 4]/2 per cent 1,000 00 



$10,000 00 
5,000 00 
5,000 00 
5,000 00 
1,000 00 
300 00 
600 00 
5,000 00 
1,000 00 
1,000 00 
1,000 00 
5,000 00 

1,000 00 



$3,952 16 



The Eugene Augustus Hoffman Memorial Fund in New 

York Security & Trust Co 

Phoenix Fund in New York Security & Trust Co 



$13,350 00 

$47,500 00 
15,000 00 



Building Fund in Central Trust Co $120,766 43 



Total $268,237 76 



CHARLES A. 



SHERMAN, 
Treasurer. 



MEMBERSHIP. 



Members, on their election, pay an initiation fee 
of Twenty Dollars, which includes dues for the cur- 
rent year, and annually thereafter Ten Dollars as 
dues ; or, a life-membership fee of One Hundred 
Dollars, in lieu of all other dues and fees. 

Nominations are to be sent by members to the 
Recording Secretary. 

Members have the privilege of introducing visi- 
tors to the rooms of the Society by their card or a 
note, and of bringing two persons with them to the 
monthly meetings. 



-♦-♦•♦- 



FORM OF A BEQUEST. 



I Give and beqtieath to "The New York His- 
torical Society," founded hi the year 1804, and 
incorporated by the Legislature of New York in the 
year 1809, the sum of dollars. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 113 781 5 



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